God honors honesty over sacrifice.

Friday  1-29-16 (Home in Modesto, California)     

Scripture reading for today:    Exodus 23 – 24   Psalm 14   Acts 5

S=Scripture  O=Observation  A=Application  P=Prayer  SOAP for the soul.

S.  Acts 5:8-9  And Peter answered her, "Tell me whether you sold the land for so much?" She said, "Yes, for so much." Then Peter said to her, "How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? NKJV

O. The story of Ananias and his wife Sapphira is a shocking one. Nobody was forcing anyone to sell their lands and donate the money to the ministry of this fledgling church.  True others, like Barnabas, got recognition for his generosity.  His name was recorded in the book and is still there for us all to see and know that Barnabas was a great guy.  So Ananias tried to do the same thing, but perhaps their sale brought double what they had expected.  So Ananias says to his wife, “Nobody will ever know. We can hide one half in our basement for our retirement years and just let them think this was the full sale price.  We will be recognized as generous and faithful givers.” Something was wrong here... and God took it seriously.

A.  So here I am and it is “income tax time.”  Uncle Sam makes me count up my income for the past year.  Wow!  I didn’t think it was that much!  God was good to me.  I wonder where it all went.  All my church friends know that I make it a habit of faithfully paying a tenth of my income to the work of the Lord, but... checking back now, could it be that I owe the Lord some back tithe?  Oh well, that was last year.  Nobody will ever know.  I’ll try to do better this coming year.  What’s that voice I hear?  Is it You, Jesus?  And did I hear you mention the names of Brother Ananias and Sister Sapphira? 

P.  Lord Jesus, Acts chapter 5 teaches me that You honor honesty over sacrifice.  You seem to not take lightly to dishonest, sneaky financial deals.  You were even counting when the widow lady gave two cents.  So I conclude that You probably notice when I hold back a few hundred dollars.  Today I ask you to bless me with a double portion of Your wonderful attributes, generosity and honesty.   Amen.

Ralph